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Wild Skies at Campground

7/12/18

That Was Close

Adventure Location:Decatur, Al.Adventure Date:July, 2018Click a pic to enlarge it.The day started gently with no major chores in front of us. We still have 24 days in front of us before rolling. That means the OFM can take it easy getting prepared to roll. He meandered outside into the heat and was piddling around when something glinted in a spot of sunshine.What is it that can glint off the top of a tire he wondered. Little did he know the excitement that awaited.He moseyed over and looked at the tire for the shiny rock. Only there was no rock only metal tire cord fragments. This is not good he thought as he went back inside for a flashlight.The flashlight illuminated a major GOOD GRIEF. The tire had tread worn down badly in several spots. Then a look to the back side found a split about ten inches long with the tire’s metal belt hanging out. But the tire was still inflated properly.YIKES!!! The jack was brought out and tire removal commenced. The better view we got the worse it looked. This tire was within a few miles of exploding.

This tire was inspected when we had the wheel bearing repack in Del Rio Texas in April of this year and showed no signs of trouble. Closer examination indicated that it had taken a bad high speed whack by something that broke the belts in the tire. A couple more places were worn down very badly and soon to be trouble.Here is the close up of this tire.

The gentle morning had gotten tougher as the sweat poured off the OFM while doing all the jacking and wheel removal. The tire and rim were loaded up and taken to Wal-mart here in Decatur. They had five new tires of our size, so we got a new one installed. It is a Goodyear Marathon like all the other tires that gave no trouble in the 200,000+ miles driven with the Castle in tow.After we got the new tire installed, the OFM did the flashlight trick on the other tires and they all looked to be in great shape and ready to roll. Now it was once again time to relax.Sierra is also needing new shoes which we plan to obtain next week. We will be rolling out of Decatur with good shoes on all the vehicles but a lot less dollar bills weighing the Castle down.Hmmm what can we do tomorrow for trying to have tooooo much fun?